Tag Archives: Dr Thomas

Paragraph 27 reads: “The defense witnesses Thursday
included a psychologist who evaluated Benz and agreed with her prior diagnoses
of being manic-depressive and bi-polar and suffering from depression and
anxiety. Dr. Gene Braaksma said Benz was taking anti-depressantsand mood stabilizers in June 2007.”

Judge to rule today on mistrial motion in Mary Benz infantabusecase

The defense is seeking a mistrial in the Mary
Benz infantabusecase after Benz’s attorney stumbled upon evidence he said was
valuable to his client’s case and not previously disclosed by the
prosecution.

Defense attorney Richard Hahn made the motion Thursday after
spotting a social worker’s case file while he was in District Attorney Joe
DeCecco’s office editing an audio recording earlier in the day. In a notation
made June 28, 2007 ­ two days after a 10-month-old girl was found to have
significant vaginal injuries ­ the doctor who examined her said the parents
could not be ruled out as suspects and the injuries could have occurred earlier
than he said when he testified.

The note was made before the
pediatrician, Dr. Thomas Valvano, interviewed the parents and differs from his
final findings, but Hahn said he should have been made aware of the report so he
could question Valvano about the statements. Valvano testified Wednesday and has
since returned to Oregon, where he now lives.

“All of this from an
investigative standpoint is a complete and absolute surprise,” said Hahn, adding
that he said he should have received the file during discovery. “That raises
three issues that I would have utilized with great prominence in my cross
examination of Dr. Valvano.”

Judge Terence Bourke will rule on the motion
for the mistrial this morning.

This was the fourth straight day Hahn
sought to have the case thrown out before it reached the jury, but the first
time DeCecco asked for time to prepare a response before Bourke
ruled.

Court records show Hahn filed his demand for discovery in June
2008. Discovery is when attorneys for both sides must share the evidence they
have gathered.

Hahn said he spotted the file sitting in a box on
DeCecco’s floor while the two editing an audio recording of an interview with
Benz that was played for the jury Thursday. That editing delayed the start of
the trial from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

The file in question was created by
the Sheboygan County Division of Social Services, which conducted an
investigation in cooperation with but separate from the Sheboygan County
Sheriff’s Department after the girl’s injury was discovered. The injury, an
inch-long vaginal tear, was discovered the same day the child was cared for at
Our Lady of the Lakes ChildCare Center in Random Lake, where Benz was

director.
(2 of 3)

Benz, 51, is charged with felony childabuse and
three counts of misdemeanor resisting or obstructing an officer. Her trial began
Monday after 2½ years of delays from a 10-month investigation, numerous pretrial
motions and two adjourned trial dates.

The case file has not yet been
mentioned in the presence of the jury, as Hahn presented his motion after the
jury was sent home for the day Thursday. After the motion, social worker Laura
Lemon was called to testify as an unscheduled witness about the contents of thecase file.

Lemon said such files are typically given to the District
Attorney’s Office upon request, but she did not know if it was requested in this

case or when. The file includes a record of people contacted during Lemon’s
investigation, a final report and documentation gathered throughout the
investigation.

The case was closed Aug. 14, 2007, because no perpetrator
had been identified, Lemon said.

The key section cited by Hahn was a note
from a Social Services employee who fielded the call from Valvano and reported
that he wanted the agency to know the parents could not yet be ruled out and the
incident could have happened June 25. Valvano said at that point the day care
appeared the “most suspicious” in terms of where the injury likely
happened.

Valvano testified Wednesday that the injuries occurred 12 to 24
hours prior to his examining the child at 2 a.m. June 28.

Another case

note said Valvano told Social Services in a June 28 meeting at Children’s
Hospital in Milwaukee that the girl’s injury could have been caused by a finger,
and there is no indication a sharp object was used or what exactly caused the
injury.

Benz in third interview: ‘I don’t recall’

The
shortened day of testimony preceding Hahn’s motion included a third recorded
interview with Benz in which she changed key details from prior interviews and
repeatedly said “I don’t recall” when confronted about
inconsistencies.

The interview was conducted by Detective Mark Mancl of
the Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Department on July 26, 2007, after serving a
search warrant at Benz’s home.
(3 of 3)

Mancl focused several of his
questions on Benz’s alleged actions after a June 29, 2007, interview. After Benz
told Mancl then that she changed only two of the girl’s diapers on the day in
question, two day care employees testified that she called and asked them to say
they changed two other diapers when they hadn’t.

In the recording played
Thursday, Benz said she didn’t recall discussing the case with anyone other than
Ed Ritger, an attorney affiliated with the day care, didn’t recall telling one
girl she had been framed ­ as the girl testified she did ­ and didn’t
recall leaving a voicemail saying she messed up and needed help. That voicemail
was played in court Tuesday.

Benz did, however, say for the first time
that she changed all of the victim’s diapers on the day in question. She would
not say why she said otherwise in the two prior interviews, June 27 and
29.

Benz also wouldn’t say why she claimed June 29 that a volunteer had
been caring for the infants during the victim’s first 90 minutes at the day care

when on June 27 she didn’t list that worker as one of the people present. Benz
then said she didn’t recall if the woman was there or had worked with the
infants.

The woman, Rita Schmid, has testified she arrived at 6:30 a.m.
­ around the time the victim did ­ but left when Benz said she wasn’t
needed. She also said Benz called her after the June 29 interview and asked her
to say she worked until 8 a.m. and saw the victim in good spirits.

Asked
directly, Benz repeated previous denials in saying she has no knowledge of the
girl’s injuries and didn’t cause them.

“There was nothing wrong. I had no
concerns when (the victim) left at 4 o’clock,” Benz says in the interview before
deflecting responsibility. “This is the first time dad picks (her) up, and now
we have a problem.”

More defense witnesses testify

The five-hour delay
further disrupted scheduling for the trial, which was to end today. The
prosecution still has not formally rested its case, as Mancl has been on and off
the stand three times to allow witnesses for the defense to testify as
originally scheduled.

The defense witnesses Thursday included a
psychologist who evaluated Benz and agreed with her prior diagnoses of being
manic-depressive and bi-polar and suffering from depression and anxiety. Dr.
Gene Braaksma said Benz was taking anti-depressants and mood stabilizers in June
2007.

Braaksma, who spent about seven hours testing Benz and looking
through her mental health history, said she is “limited in her capability” to
deal with stress. In response to a question by DeCecco referencing Benz
allegedly asking the workers to lie and forging a document, Braaksma said he
would expect a person with Benz’s diagnoses to “crumble” rather than take
logical action to cover a crime.

Benz, 51, is charged with felonychildabuse and three counts of misdemeanor resisting or obstructing an officer.
Her trial began Monday after 2½ years of delays from a 10-month investigation,
numerous pretrial motions and two adjourned trial dates.

The case file
has not yet been mentioned in the presence of the jury, as Hahn presented his
motion after the jury was sent home for the day Thursday. After the motion,
social worker Laura Lemon was called to testify as an unscheduled witness about
the contents of the case file.

Lemon said such files are typically given
to the District Attorney’s Office upon request, but she did not know if it was
requested in this case or when. The file includes a record of people contacted
during Lemon’s investigation, a final report and documentation gathered
throughout the investigation.

The case was closed Aug. 14, 2007, because
no perpetrator had been identified, Lemon said.

The key section cited by
Hahn was a note from a Social Services employee who fielded the call from
Valvano and reported that he wanted the agency to know the parents could not yet
be ruled out and the incident could have happened June 25. Valvano said at that
point the day care appeared the “most suspicious” in terms of where the injury
likely happened.

Valvano testified Wednesday that the injuries occurred
12 to 24 hours prior to his examining the child at 2 a.m. June
28.

Another case note said Valvano told Social Services in a June 28
meeting at Children’s Hospital in Milwaukee that the girl’s injury could have
been caused by a finger, and there is no indication a sharp object was used or
what exactly caused the injury.

Benz in third interview: ‘I don’t recall’

The
shortened day of testimony preceding Hahn’s motion included a third recorded
interview with Benz in which she changed key details from prior interviews and
repeatedly said “I don’t recall” when confronted about
inconsistencies.

The interview was conducted by Detective Mark Mancl of
the Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Department on July 26, 2007, after serving a
search

Book Excerpts

BOOK TESTIMONIALS

"VERY BOLD AND INFORMATIVE"

"PRICELESS INFORMATION THAT IS GIVING ME BACK TO ME"

"THE ABSOLUTE BEST REFERENCE FOR ANTIDEPRESSANT DRUGS"

"WELL DOCUMENTED &
SCIENTIFICALLY RESEARCHED"

"I was stunned at the amount of research Ann B. Tracy has done on this subject. Few researchers go to as much trouble agressively gathering information on the adverse reactions of Prozac, Zoloft and other SSRIs."
More Book Testimonials

Administration

Dropping “cold turkey” off any medication, most especially mind altering medications, can often be MORE DANGEROUS than staying on the drugs. With antidepressants the FDA has now warned that any abrupt change in dose, whether increasing or decreasing the dose, can produce suicide, hostility, or psychosis – generally a manic psychosis when you then get your diagnosis for Bipolar Disorder. Of course drug-induced Bipolar is temporary so you need to learn more about that if it has already happened to you. We have a DVD on explaining this and how to recover from it: “Bipolar? Are You Really Bipolar or Misdiagnosed Due to the Use of or Abrupt Discontinuation of an Antidepressant”: https://store.drugawareness.org/product/bipolar-disorder-streaming/

The most dangerous and yet the most common mistake someone coming off any antidepressant, atypical antipsychotic, or benzodiazaphine makes is coming off these drugs too rapidly. Tapering off VERY, VERY, VERY SLOWLY–OVER MONTHS OR YEARS (The general rule of thumb for those on antidepressants (ANY antidepressant, not just the current antidepressant – add up all time on any of them) for less than a year is to take half the amount of time on them to wean off and for long-term users for each 5 years on psychiatric drugs of any kind the general rule of thumb is at least a year or more.), NOT JUST WEEKS OR MONTHS!—has proven the safest and most effective method of withdrawal from these types of medications. Thus the body is given the time it needs to readjust its own chemical levels. Patients must be warned to come very slowly off these drugs by shaving minuscule amounts off their pills each day, as opposed to cutting them.

WARNING: The practice of taking a pill every other day throws you into withdrawal every other day and can be very dangerous when you consider the FDA warnings on abrupt changes in dose.

This cannot be stressed strongly enough! This information on EXTREMELY gradual withdrawal is the most critical piece of information that someone facing withdrawal from these drugs needs to have.

A REMINDER: IT IS EASIER TO GET DOWN OFF A MOUNTAINTOP ONE GUARDED STEP AT A TIME THAN TO JUMP FROM THE TOP TO THE BOTTOM.

No matter how few or how many side effects you have had on these antidepressants, withdrawal is a whole new world. The worst part of rapid withdrawal can be delayed for several months AFTER you quit. So even if you think you are doing okay you quickly find that it becomes much worse. If you do not come off correctly and rebuild your body as you do, you risk:

Creating bouts of overwhelming depression
Producing a MUCH longer withdrawal and recovery period than if you had come off slowly
Overwhelming fatigue causing you to be unable to continue daily tasks or costing your job
Having a psychotic break brought on by the terrible insomnia from the rapid withdrawal, and then being locked in a psychiatric ward and being told you are either schizophrenic or most likely that you are Bipolar.
Ending up going back on the drugs (each period on the drugs tends to be more dangerous and problematic than the previous time you were on the drugs) and having more drugs added to calm the withdrawal effects
Seizures and other life threatening physical reactions
Violent outbursts or rages
REM Sleep Behavior Disorder which has always been known as a drug withdrawal state and is known to include both suicide and homicide – both committed in a sleep state.
Although my book, Prozac: Panacea or Pandora? Our Serotonin Nightmare!, contains massive amounts of information you can find nowhere else on these drugs, it does not have the extensive amount of information contained in the CD focusing mainly on withdrawal issues. The CD contains newer and updated information on safe withdrawal from these drugs. It details over an hour and a half the safest ways found over the past 30 years to withdraw from antidepressants and the drugs so often prescribed with them – the atypical antipsychotics and benzodiazapenes. And it explains why it is safest to withdraw tiny amounts from all of the medications at the same time rather than withdrawing only one at a time.

It also lists many safe alternative treatments that can assist you in getting though the withdrawal and lists other alternatives to avoid which are not safe after using antidepressants. And it contains information on how to rebuild your health after you have had it destroyed by these drugs so that you never end up feeling a need to be on these drugs again.

The CD is very inexpensive and will save you thousands in medical bills which far too many end up spending trying to do it on your own without this information. (One woman who decided she was okay coming down twice as fast as recommended paid a terrible price. After withdrawing she suffered the REM Sleep Disorder early one morning and attacked her husband with a baseball bat (for which she has no memory) and which ended their lifelong courtship and marriage. And cost her $30,000 to be in a psychiatric facility where they put her on five more drugs plus the antidepressant she had just withdrawn from! You can see why many have lamented that they wished they would have had the information on this CD before attempting withdrawal.

To order Ann Blake-Tracy’s book go to: https://store.drugawareness.org/product/prozac-panacea-or-pandora-our-serotonin-nightmare-2014-ebook-download/

To order the CD, “Help! I Can’t Get Off My Antidepressant!” go to: http://store.drugawareness.org/product/help-i-cant-get-off-my-antidepressant-mp3-download/

This is a CD doctors can also benefit from when attempting to withdraw their patients from these drugs which the World Health Organization has now told us are addictive and produce withdrawal. And doctors have begun to recommend the CD to their patients.

The Aftermath of Antidepressants

In 2005 the FDA issued strong warnings about changes in dose for antidepressants. They warned that ANY abrupt change in dose of an antidepressant, whether increasing or decreasing the dose….so that would include switching antidepressants, starting or stopping antidepressants, forgetting to take a pill, skipping doses, taking a pill one day & not the next, etc…. can cause suicide, hostility, and/or psychosis – generally a manic psychosis which is why so many are given a diagnosis for Bipolar Disorder after this withdrawal reaction that can so severely impair sleep leading to a psychotic break.

Clearly coming down too rapidly can be very, very dangerous. We encourage you to arm yourself with knowledge by downloading our CD on safe withdrawal.

http://www.drugawareness.org/wp-content/uploads/wpsc/product_images/thumbnails/helpicant.jpgclick here. order a CD download.
WARNING: In sharing this information about adverse reactions to antidepressants I always recommend that you also give reference to my CD on safe withdrawal, Help! I Can’t Get Off My Antidepressant!, so that we do not have more people dropping off these drugs too quickly – a move which I have warned from the beginning can be even more dangerous than staying on the drugs!

The FDA also now warns that any abrupt change in dose of an antidepressant can produce suicide, hostility or psychosis. And these reactions can either come on very rapidly or even be delayed for months depending upon the adverse effects upon sleep patterns when the withdrawal is rapid! You can find the CD on safe and effective withdrawal helps here: http://store.drugawareness.org/